[CurlyQOSU]

My mother's Gateway Media Center PC running Windows XP professional says it "cannot find cd-rom", therefore she can't play or copy to CDs. She has tried reinstalling it, but when she tries to install new hardware, she gets a message that the computer is
currently busy installing something and to try again later. This has been going on for over 2 weeks. She has tried using the Windows troubleshooter but it hasn't helped. Any ideas of what to do about this?

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Hi. Here is a possible fix from M$
http://support.micro...om/?kbid=320553
upper and lower filters, drive not found

[austin_o]

Hi. Here is a possible fix from M$
http://support.micro...om/?kbid=320553
upper and lower filters, drive not found

[CurlyQOSU]

I got my mom to explain the problem in more detail so here it is:

"This is what I'm experiencing:

As the computer boots up a black screen appears with the following message:

The CD-Rom drive was not found. Consult the troubleshooting section of your user's manual.

I have followed all the troubleshooting suggestions to no avail.

When I go to Device Manager, the D:Drive (CD:Rom/DVD) is not listed there. There are no devices with question marks.

There is no longer a D:Drive listed under My Computer.

When I click on Install Hardware I get the following message:

Cannot Run Two Device Installations

You can install only one device at a time.
Another device is underway, when its finished you can try the wizard again.

I have been getting this message every time I have tried Installing Hardware for over 2 weeks. Needless to say, I am not now or have I been installing any new hardware.

This happened as I was copying a CD which I was going to burn onto a blank CD and was making a new playlist. When I tried to burn the playlist, the burn button wouldn't come on (turn red). That was when I realized that I couldn't play the CD, copy it or burn it. I restarted the computer and got the message above that my CD-Rom drive was not found. I haven't been able to find a trace of it anywhere on the computer. (I have Windows XP.) I tried the System Restore but I keep getting this message: Your computer cannot be restored to this date. I've tried several available dates all the way back to September 1.

I did look up the problem in the Microsoft website last week and I've tried everything except the Registry thing. I'm really afraid to mess with the Registry. Is that my last option?"

[austin_o]

It may be. And there is no guarantee it will fix it. I can tell you that it has fixed it for many who have had this problem, tried everything and nothing worked. Just follow the precautions in the M$ document and back up the registry before you begin. Follow the steps carefully and you should be ok.

[Billre1967]

When the computer is booting up, does it show you what is connected? Maybe the cable came loose on the drive. You can also go into the BIOS and see if it is listed. If it's not listed then it's not a Windows problem. Is it still under warranty? If so, just bring it back.

[CurlyQOSU]

Thanks for the suggestions. I went to my mom’s house and worked on her computer this weekend and couldn’t get the CD drive fixed. I tried system restore but it says for all the dates I tried that it’s couldn’t restore the system to those dates. I tried following the instructions from Microsoft that are posted above but I couldn't do method #1 because UpperFilters was not there, and I couldn't do method #2 becausethe CD drive does not appear under the device manager at all, not even with a question mark next to it. In My Computer, there is also no CD-ROM drive listed. It’s as if the computer has never had a CD-ROM drive although it was working fine until it stopped working a couple weeks ago. I modified the registry according to a tip I found online to get it to stop saying that it was installing something so that it would let me run Add New Hardware (I deleted “FactoryPreInstallInProgress" under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Setup and the entire “Factory” key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ and this made the message that I couldn’t run two installations at the same time stop coming up and I was then able to run Add new Hardware.) However, even with Add New Hardware working, it didn’t find any new hardware, and I tried to manually install it but I don’t know what brand the CD-ROM drive is so I couldn’t find it in the list of things it could install. I tried to open up the computer to find out what brand the drive is but the way the computer is put together (everything is built into the back of the screen, there’s no separate tower or anything) I couldn’t get it open. I checked the BIOS and an ATAPI CD device is listed in the boot order as the first device to boot from but there is no other mention of it that I could find in the BIOS but I wasn’t sure exactly where to look for it. Even though it is listed as the first device to boot from, if I restart the computer with a system restore CD in it it doesn’t attempt to boot from the disk. Actually, when starting the computer right after the screen comes up that says hit f2 to enter BIOS, the screen comes up saying that no CD-ROM device was detected. All of this – the fact that the only mention of a CD drive I could find on the entire computer was in the list of devices to boot from but the computer still won’t boot from the CD drive – is making me think that the CD drive has somehow come unplugged from the rest of the computer. When I insert a CD I can hear the drive start running, but nothing ever happens. Does this sound like the CD-ROM’s power cord is connected but the other cord has come unplugged? Would it be possible for it to come unplugged even when the computer hasn’t been moved or anything? If that’s what it sounds like, can anyone tell me how to open the computer and get to the CD drive? It is a Gateway Media Center 610 like you can see here so it’s not as easy as opening up the case to a regular computer: http://support.gatew...2900007nv.shtml
I took the screws out of the back and I could get to the AVerMedia TV tuner, and the CD-ROM should have been on the other side of that, but I don’t know how to either take the AVerMedia card out or open the back of the computer any farther without damaging anything. We have had nothing but problems with this computer since March but the warranty ran out in June so we can’t send it back to them to fix it. If anyone can tell me 1) if it sounds like the problem is the CD drive being disconnected if it sounds like something else and 2) if it sounds like the CD-ROM has come disconnected, how I can get to it with this type of computer to plug it back in, I would really appreciate it.

[austin_o]

Wow, what a beast that thing is! I did not spend a lot of time investigating the Gateway documentation (or more accurately stated, LACK there of). If you can't intuitively figure out how to open this up to access the cd drive, I suggest you contact Gateway. I realize you said it is no longer in warranty. However, there should be a way to open that thing up to get to the components. They should be able to tell you how. They have a link on their web page to contact support
http://support.gatew...ask_gateway.asp

[Billre1967]

If you push the button to open the cd drive, does it open? If so, then it definitely sounds like the cable came loose. I'm not familiar with those computers, so I'm afraid I can't help you in getting it open!

[CurlyQOSU]

Yeah, the CD drive opens and closes fine when yyou push the button.

[Billre1967]

Then I would do what Austin suggests and contact Gateway. Just be careful when working inside. You don't want to short anything out with static electricity!